This April we want to go to Florida Gulf coast or maybe even the Keys (if I make up my mind to drive that far).

Does anyone know of a place/house rental on the beach where I can bring my H16 to and keep there while we stay?

A couple of years ago we were on Manasota key (south of Sarasota) and I remember how tightly houses were on the beach. I'm just thinking it would be very difficult to put a cat on the beach, not even sure it it was allowed there...

I think I'm looking for for something like "we stayed there-and-there".

See, when you call places like this most of the time you have an agent on the other end. They know about microwave ovens in the house, but have no clue about putting a cat on the beach.

Actually, I was talking to someone, and was asked "what is the a catamaran?". To me this sounds really strange. I mean word "catamaran" is not something that is so specialized that regular person does not know it. Just weird to hear such a question...

Yea, that is probably true, BUT, I just rented a house at Ft. Morgan AL and rented it from the people that own it and they gave me the whole story. We're taking 2 14s down there and they said that we'd have no problems.

I just got back from two weeks in North Redington Beach (Tampa area, about half way between Clearwater Beach and St Pete Beach). There are several cats parked on the beach along that stretch. The condo where I stay (Grand Shores West) has a couple of Waves, free for their residents; but one guy keeps his own Laser there too. The DoubleTree Inn (a block south) rents Waves and Getaways, along with jetskis, kayaks, and other water toys; and they're all just sitting on the sand.

There are lots of condos and private rentals, from Madeira Beach up through Indian Rocks Beach, in all price ranges, that should have no problem with you bringing your own Hobie. Bring your Cat-Trax too, it's a deep beach.

_________________What - Me Worry?

2006 Hobie Wave 7358"Ish Kabibble"

Last edited by IndyWave on Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

The Keys in April! Me, the Admiral and about 9 friends are loading our Harleys on the Autotrain in Lorton VA, going down to the end, then riding the bikes to Key West. We're doing this starting the 5th. I doubt we'll have time for any sailing but if any of you Florida guys see 10 Harleys with Maryland tags, that'll probably be us!

.. North Redington Beach (Tampa area, about half way between Clearwater Beach and St Pete Beach). (Grand Shores West) has a couple of Waves, free for their residents; but one guy keeps his own Laser there too. The DoubleTree Inn (a block south) rents Waves and Getaways,

...from Madeira Beach up through Indian Rocks Beach, in all price ranges, that should have no problem with you bringing your own Hobie. Bring your Cat-Trax too, it's a deep beach.

thanks! I will check out these names online. let's see if I can dig out anything about them...

xanderwess wrote:

...I just rented a house at Ft. Morgan AL...

Man, looked that place up on Google Earth - a very spectacular peninsular! I may ask you for a contact phone for the person you are renting the house from.

The Keys can be very challenging to catamaran sail because there are actually very few sandy beaches down there. Long Key and parts of Bahaia Honda are some of the few islands I that remember that you would even think of launching or landing on with a cat.

The water and the islands are very beautiful down there but island hopping is not as easy as it looks. I've tried it. There are hard running currents near the mainland and at low tide there are so many sand bars and rocky coral areas and you will have to be very careful.

My first trip down there around 1975, I took my sailboat, but could only find one safe place to launch without tearing up the bottom of my boat.

Don't get me wrong...I love the Keys and I've been down there almost every year since 1975 but we use powerboats down there and we spear fish and chase lobsters. Offshore sailing down there would be great, but the Gulf is probably a better cat sailing environment.

We just spent April on Treasure Island and the Gulfportyachtclub.org group was really nice and took in our Hobie 18. We pulled our weight and will probably buy a membership because they were so accomdating; they even hosted the Alter Cup. The Clearwater Sailing Center in St. Petersburg seems very nice, though pricey. Our H18 cat is a 1990, but it is really good racing shape with expensive blocks, etc.; I just didn't want to leave it on a beach unattended.